ABSTRACT
Myths from numerous cultures compare human efforts to achieve a sense of felt security through attachments with efforts to establish security through instrumental tools, supplies, privileges, and agents. Consider these two examples:
1. From the Mediterranean tradition, there is Midas, a man so preoccupied with material wealth, he believed his fondest wish would be to turn all he touched into gold. But no sooner did the gods grant him this power than he unthinkingly transformed his own daughter into solid metal by giving her a loving embrace. Without hesitation he prayed to have the power reversed and gladly renounced all his gains in order to have her restored to him as she had been. The theme that is represented here is the realization of the irreplaceable value of loving relationships and the pointlessness of material acquisition without the bonds of attachment and caregiving.
